Bakerella’s Moose Munch® Dark Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes Recipe

Many of us here at Harry & David are enthusiastic fans of cupcakes. So when we heard that Bakerella, well known for magnificent recipes and adorable designs for cake pops, was going to share a cupcake recipe using our own Moose Munch® Gourmet Popcorn, we could barely rein in our enthusiasm.This recipe serves up a heady mix of perfectly moist chocolate cake, creamy caramel, decadent ganache, fabulous chocolate buttercream, and Moose Munch® Gourmet Popcorn. When prepared as described, these cupcakes are not just scrumptious; their appearance is quite elegant, making them the perfect dessert to serve at parties and receptions in addition to being irresistible everyday snacks. So prepare your kitchen—you’re in for some marvelous cupcakes.

Moose Munch® Dark Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes.

That’s more than a mouthful of sweet and salty living in harmony. These cupcakes are delicious and made even better with the added crunch of your favorite Moose Munch® Gourmet Popcorn.

And as Harry & David celebrates its 80th anniversary (WOW!), I’m excited to share a glimpse of the new packaging for Moose Munch® Gourmet Popcorn.
It showcases the Oregon Trail with a stop at the home of Moose Munch® Gourmet Popcorn in Medford, Oregon… which is absolutely beautiful, by the way. I visited a little over a year ago and was blown away by the landscape. Simply breathtaking.

Inside each tin are four separately packaged flavors: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, s’mores, and classic caramel. There’s also a deluxe tin with two more flavors, milk chocolate-covered and dark chocolate-covered. And after enjoying the dark chocolate, I’m already in love with the idea of dark chocolate-covered.
Did you know that Moose Munch® Gourmet Popcorn can now be purchased as individual containers? In the past, they had to be purchased in packs. With 31 Moose Munch® Gourmet Popcorn flavors available throughout the year, that’s enough to munch on for a while.Okay, let’s get to the cupcakes. Because I love chocolate-covered anything, I used the dark chocolate Moose Munch® Gourmet Popcorn as a topping for the chocolate caramel cupcakes I made for you today. But feel free to make these with the dark chocolate-covered variety, too. Because I totally want to.

Okay, after you bake the cupcakes, it’s time to dig in. I used a cupcake corer to remove the centers, but you can also use a melon baller to scoop a well out for the caramel.
That’s right. We’re also filling these beauties with caramel.
When the cupcake is all full, use the removed piece of cake to place right back on top. Or, if you want, fill them up more with caramel and enjoy the scraps.
I piped five big dollops of frosting around the top of the cupcake, releasing toward the center so the ganache could drip in between the dollops.
Then all you have to do is top each cupcake with a few pieces of dark chocolate Moose Munch® Gourmet Popcorn and drizzle with a little more caramel.
Just yum!
This recipe has four parts, but feel free to customize. You can top the cupcakes with just ganache or caramel, if you like, before adding the popcorn.

Moose Munch® Dark Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes Recipe

Ingredients

for cupcakes:

Moose Munch® Gourmet Popcorn

1-2/3 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

2/3 cup whole milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup hot water

For caramel:

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

For chocolate ganache

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup butter

1 cup dark chocolate morsels

For Chocolate buttercream frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3-1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

1-3 tsp. milk

Instructions

Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 F and line cupcake tray with 18 liners.

Place dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sift ingredients together with a wire whisk until combined.

With mixer on low, add eggs one at a time, mixing until just combined.

Add milk, oil, and vanilla, mixing until combined.

Slowly add hot water and mix until combined.

Caramel:

Heat sugar, butter, cream, and salt in a pot over medium heat and cook for about 5 minutes, whisking gently.

Stir in vanilla, remove from heat, and let cool.

Ganache:

Heat cream and butter on medium-high in pot until just before boiling.

Remove from heat and pour over morsels.

Let sit for one minute and then stir together until completely incorporated and smooth.

Frosting:

Sift sugar and cocoa together in a medium bowl and set aside.

Using a mixer, cream the butter. Slowly add sugar in intervals on low speed, mixing until combined.

Add vanilla, salt, and 1 teaspoon of milk and beat 1-2 minutes. Add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until creamy.

14 Comments

[…] I could handle THAT many cupcakes this time around. The recipe was developed by Bakerella for Harry and David. I just used the cake recipe and left out the moose crunch or munch or whatever she put on top as […]

Elodie

November 19, 2014 at 12:39 am

Hi, I’m wondering which kind of measuring cup is used for you recipe ?
These cupackes look so delicious but I don’t know how to measure quantites with a “cup”.
Could you please help so I can try them too ?